Date: 7th & 8th November, 2015
Location: 7th & 8th November, 2015

We’ve reported from the Dutch Pinball Open (DPO) for many years, but last year was the first time it had transformed into the DPO Expo. The name change coincided with its expansion from being mainly about the tournament through the addition of a guest speaker and the showing of several new pinball titles from manufacturers in the US and the Netherlands.

This year the ‘Expo’ element of the name returned for 2015, as did the show to the De Voorste Venne, the former automobile museum in Drunen, southeast of Rotterdam.

De Voorste Venne in Drunen
De Voorste Venne in Drunen

The DPO Expo can be roughly divided into three distinct areas. On the left as you enter the building is the main games hall where free-play games and vendors were situated. On the right is the theatre where seminars and the final rounds of the main tournament took place. Finally, a separate building on the right as you enter the courtyard above housed the games for the main tournament’s qualifying round, and the women’s and junior tournaments.

The home of the various tournaments
The home of the various tournaments

Let’s take a look around.

As you entered the main hall, the registration desk awaited you.

Register here to collect your wristband
Register here to pay your entry, and collect your wristband and/or player badge

Entry into the main DPO tournament and access to the rest of the show cost €42.50 ($45.50/£30.10) per person. Reduced prices applied to youngsters as well as those not taking part in the tournament. No pre-registration for the DPO was needed, although doing so got you a printed badge rather than a hand-written one.

The DPO Expo is organised by members of the Dutch Pinball Association (Nederlandse Flippervereniging or NFV), and the Association was selling pinball T-shirts, books, magazines, flyers, manuals and more on the adjacent tables.

Pinball goodies from the NFV
Pinball T-shirts from the NFV
Assorted pinball goodies
Assorted pinball goodies
Books, magazines, mugs, mousepads, and more
Books, magazines, mugs, mouse pads, and more

The next area featured the six machines used for the Classic Tournament.

The Classics Tournament area
The Classics Tournament area

We’ll come to the tournaments a little later in this report, but right next to the Classic Tournament area was the bar and kitchen area. The DPO Expo is one of those shows where it is quite acceptable to take your drink into the free-play area.

The bar
The bar

Due to licensing restrictions, purchases needed to be made using €2 tokens.

Beer, wine and soft drinks were available at the bar
Beer, wine and soft drinks were available at the bar
The price list
The price list
Alternative drinks and snacks
Alternative drinks and snacks

Tea and coffee were also available at a separate counter.

Coffee and tea
Coffee and tea

Then we come to the main hall which contained the free-play and vendor area.

The main hall
The main hall

On the far left was a lane with pinballs left and right. There was no discernible theme or design to how the free-play machines were arranged in the hall, so you’re quite likely find a late seventies solid-state machine side-by-side with recent Stern titles.

The first rows of machines
The first rows of machines
An elevated view of the machines
An elevated view of the machines

Backing onto these were more machines and the first vendor display.

The next row of pins
The next row of pins
This same row also contained the first vendor stand
This same row also contained the first vendor stand
Somewhere behind there is Andrew Heighway and his team showin their Full Throttle games
Somewhere behind there is Andrew Heighway with his team from Heighway Pinball showing their Full Throttle games
The machine on the right featured the new large backbox display
The machine on the right featured the new large backbox display

Alongside the Heighway Pinball stand was the large selection of the latest Stern and Jersey Jack machines from Ministry of Pinball.

The front of the Ministry of Pinball stand
The front of the Ministry of Pinball stand
Visitors enjoying Game of Thrones, Kiss, The Walking Dead and The Wizard of Oz
Visitors enjoying Game of Thrones, Kiss, The Walking Dead and The Wizard of Oz

Backing on to these were four more machines and Ministry of Pinball’s merchandise stand.

X-Men LE, Star Trek LE, Medieval Madness remake and AC/DC LE
X-Men LE, Star Trek LE, Medieval Madness remake and AC/DC LE
Pinball merchandise
Pinball merchandise

Next we have Medieval Castle – a game based on Medieval Madness software but with a new multi-level playfield design and art package created by Wil Angenent.

Medieval Castle was for display only and couldn't be played yet
Medieval Castle was for display only and couldn’t be played yet

Returning to the centre of the hall, Dutch Pinball had a display of five pre-production The Big Lebowski games – complete with rugs, naturally – and a Bride of Pinbot 2.0.

Dutch Pinball's machines
Dutch Pinball’s machines

The five The Big Lebowskis were ‘pre-production samples’, which means they were built by the factory which will be making the production machines, but still have a few adjustments needed to fine-tune them before they are production-ready.

Another row of free-play machines backed on the Dutch Pinball line-up.

The next row of free-play games
The next row of free-play games

Three more vendors had stands running along the back wall of the hall, starting with Mirco Stefan’s High Class Pinballs.

The High Class Pinballs stand
The High Class Pinballs stand

Mirco makes the playfields for Jersey Jack Pinball as well as a range of reproduction Williams/Bally playfields, and visitors could buy new playfields for all these titles.

A playfield for The Hobbit marked for 'decoration only'
A playfield for The Hobbit marked for ‘decoration only’
The Hobbit cabinet side art and more playfields
The Hobbit cabinet side art and playfields for The Wizard of Oz, Medieval Madness and Cactus Canyon

LED4Pin had a colourful stand showcasing their LED lighting products, as well as selling plastic protectors and replacement playfield parts.

The LED4Pin stand
The LED4Pin stand

Taking centre-stage on the LED4Pins stand was a chrome and brushed stainless steel Terminator 2 game, with full LED lighting.

Terminator 2, Chrome Edition
Terminator 2, Chrome Edition

Squeezed in at the end of the row was a booth promoting the new pinball documentary Same Player Shoots Again.

The Same Player Shoots Again stand
The Same Player Shoots Again stand

The DVD of the documentary is about to be released and will cost €15.00 plus shipping through the pinball-dvd.com site.

The rows of free-play machines continued to a seating area where food purchased from the kitchen could be consumed. Trays of potato fries, frikandel hot dogs, and krokets in bread rolls were amongst the offerings available for one €2 token each. The traditional accompaniments of curry sauce and mayonnaise were available, but optional.

The queue for lunch
The queue for lunch from the kitchen

The theatre took up the right side of the building, but to get there from the main hall you needed to pass down one of two corridors, both lined with more free-play pinballs.

At the back of the building were six older solid-state games including Wizard!, Bally Star Trek and Black Pyramid, most of which were sadly not playable due to having no credits or not being unfolded.

Machines at the back of the building
Machines at the back of the building

The corridor at the front also had a couple of unplayable titles amongst the ten machines, but overall provided an enjoyable distraction for those people travelling to and from the theatre.

Manhines in the front corridor
Machines in the front corridor

In total we counted 111 free-play machines at the DPO Expo. Here they are:

Free-Play Machine List
AC/DC Back in Black LE
Addams Family, The
Algar
Amigo
Apollo 13
Attack from Mars
Austin Powers
Avatar
Barracora*
Baywatch
Big Hurt, Frank Thomas’s
Big Lebowski, The
Big Lebowski, The
Big Lebowski, The
Big Lebowski, The
Big Lebowski, The*
Black Pyramid*
Bobby Orr Power Play
Bride of Pinbot 2.0
Car Hop
Centaur
Champion Pub, The
Charlie’s Angels
Cirqus Voltaire
Comet
Corvette
Dealers Choice
Dr. Dude
Flash*
Flintstones, The
Full Throttle
Full Throttle
Game of Thrones Pro
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Gilligan’s Island
Gold Wings
Gorgar*
Grand Lizard
Grand Prix
Guns n’ Roses
Hardbody*
Harlem Globetrotters
Hot Shots*
Indiana Jones (Stern)
Indiana Jones (WMS)
Judge Dredd
Junkyard
Jurassic Park: The Lost World
Kiss (Bally)*
Kiss Pro
Lady Luck
Lethal Weapon 3
Mata Hari
Matrix, The
Medieval Madness Remake
Monte Carlo
Motordome
NBA Fastbreak
Nugent
Operation Thunder
Operation Thunder
Orbitor 1
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean
Playboy
Playboy (Bally)
Police Force
Pool Sharks
Punchy the Clown
Ready …Aim …Fire!
Roadshow
Roadshow
Robo War
Robocop
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends
Rollergames
Scared Stiff
Secret Service
Secret Service
Silver Slugger
Sopranos, The
Spring Break
Star Trek (Bally)*
Star Trek (DE)
Star Trek LE (Stern)
Star Wars
Star Wars Trilogy
Starship Troopers
Street Fighter 2
Super Mario Bros.
Surf ‘n Safari
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Taxi
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Terminator 2
Terminator 2
Time Machine (DE)
Transformers
Tri Zone*
Twilight Zone
Twister
Walking Dead Pro, The
Waterworld
Wheel of Fortune
Whirlwind
Who Dunnit?
Wipe Out
Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary, The
Wizard!
X-Men Wolverine LE

Here’s our Nine Minute Tour of DPO Expo 2015.

 

The theatre was home to the six seminar held at the DPO Expo.

The seminar schedule
The seminar schedule
Plush, raked seating gave everyone a good view of the seminars
Plush, raked seating gave everyone a good view of the seminars

The seminar began at 11am on Saturday with Wil Angenent talking about his Medieval Castle project, as seen earlier in the main hall.

Will talks about Medieval Castle
Will talks about Medieval Castle
The game took to the stage too
The game took to the stage too

He had it on stage with him as he described why and how he took the code, rules, sounds and display animations for Medieval Madness and created an entirely new playfield layout and artwork package.

The seminars were recorded by the NFV and are available as a playlist on YouTube, or you can watch them individually here.

We are so used to hearing seminars spoken in English, it was slightly odd to hear Wil’s talk in Dutch, although obviously quite reasonable given our location and the audience. However, the five seminars which followed were all in English, starting at 12:30am with Jean-Paul de Win talking about pinball art in the digital age.

J-P de Win
J-P de Win

Jean-Paul has worked on, or is currently working on, three separate pinball projects from three different manufacturers – The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit for Jersey Jack Pinball, The Big Lebowski for Dutch Pinball and Timeshock! for Silver Castle Pinball.

J-P shows his early designs for The Big Lebowski
J-P shows his early designs for The Big Lebowski

In his seminar, he spoke about the work he has done for all these games, as well as showing how it developed and the kinds of assets he gets (or doesn’t get) from movie studios when dealing with licensed themes.

Then at 1:10pm pinball artist Greg Freres held his talk about his career working in the pinball industry.

Greg Freres
Greg Freres

Greg also talked about the origins and development process for Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons which he and Dennis Nordman created, along with the work he’s doing at Stern Pinball.

Greg talks about Whoa Nellie!
Greg talks about Whoa Nellie!

Greg was one of the two special guests at the DPO Expo, and machines for which he created the artwork were featured in the Classic Tournament.

The next seminar was at 2:15pm and starred Jaap Nauta from Dutch Pinball to talk about their The Big Lebowski game.

Jaap talks about the changes to The Big Lebowski
Jaap talks about recent changes to The Big Lebowski

Jaap explained about the pre-production machines out on the show floor, and how much work remained before they would be able to start production.

Jaap geos through all the events of the past year
Jaap goes through all the events of the past year

Dutch Pinball hope to start production of the first The Big Lebowski machines before Christmas, with the majority coming off the line early in the new year.

At 3:05pm the second special guest took to the stage to talk about his life in pinball.

Roger Sharpe at DPO Expo 2015
Roger Sharpe at DPO Expo 2015

Roger has been in the licensing and marketing business for decades, not only for pinball but for video games and slot machines too but his knowledge covers the whole pinball business since the seventies.

In this seminar Roger took questions from moderator Jim Jansen as well as the audience.

Jim Jansen and Roger
Jim Jansen and Roger

The final seminar began later than its scheduled 4:10pm start time due to Roger’s seminar overrunning. It featured Andrew Heighway of Heighway Pinball who was there with two members of his team – Ingvar and Harrie.

Andrew with Ingvar and Harrie
Andrew with Ingvar and Harrie

Andrew began by talking about the new display options available for Full Throttle and future Heighway Pinball titles, including small and large backbox displays.

Andrew Heighway
Andrew Heighway

He then moved on to the company’s second title – Alien – and how development of that game is progressing, showing the latest artwork and playfield layouts.

While the seminars were taking place, qualifying for the main tournament, the Dutch Pinball Open, was under way in a separate building across the courtyard. Inside, twenty pinballs were set up, ranging from the 1982 Warlock to 2008’s Batman.

The first four machines in the DPO
The first four machines in the DPO

Players selected six of the twenty machines on which to play a single four-ball game.

The back row of DPO machines
The back row of DPO machines

All the scores on each machine were ranked, with the top score earning 100 ranking points. A player’s total score was the total of their ranking points on all six machines. A ‘soft’ joker was also available which allowed a player to replay one of their six machines to try to improve their score. If the score on the joker game was higher, then it replaced the original score. Otherwise the joker game score was discarded.

A queueing system was employed where players put their badges on a peg board so they could wait for their turn.

The queueing system
The queueing system

When it was their turn, they took the machine number card, slotted it into their badge holder and handed it to an official who kept it until the game was over and the score recorded. This prevented anyone walking away mid-game without recording their score.

The badges of the players on the machines
The badges of the players on the machines

Android tablets were used to record the scores, with the scoring system running on a laptop which drove three external displays – two monitors for machine scores, and a projector for overall standings.

Players check their scores and current position
Players check their scores and current position

Here are the twenty machines available for qualifying:

DPO Qualifying Machine List
Andromeda
Batman (Stern)
Batman Forever
Congo
Corvette
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Demolition Man
Dirty Harry
Earthshaker!
F-14 Tomcat
Fish Tales
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s
Funhouse
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Hoops
Indianapolis 500
Spider-Man
Warlock
Whitewater
World Cup Soccer

 

Qualifying ran throughout Saturday, from 10am until 9pm. The top 48 players then qualified for Sunday’s play-off rounds, with the next six in reserve places in case of no-shows. The qualification results were published on the DPO website for those who didn’t want to wait around.

Here’s the list of the 48 qualifiers:

DPO Qualifying Round
Pos Name
1 Paul Jongma
2 Taco Wouters
3 Cayle George
4 Albert Nomden
5 Roy Wils
6 Erwin Deutschländer
7 Martijn Van Aken
8 Dirk Klaver
9 Jochen Ludwig
10 Bart Bartholomeus
11 Brenn Oosterbaan
12 Kevin Roelants
13 John Van Der Wulp
14 Martin Ayub
15 Jonas Johansson
16 Sylvain Grévin
17 Peter Blakemore
18 Bart Volman
19 Benjamin Graebeldinger
20 Alain Boulieu
21 Eric Fisher
22 Axel Bouet
23 Olivier Renders
24 John Gimera
25 Franck Bona
26 Jasmijn De Jong
27 Bjorn Brand
28 Eko Elens
29 Eric Andries
30 Jim Lindsay
31 Nils De Kleine
32 Jake Peterson
33 Neil Fellender
34 Timber Engelbeen
35 Ivan Geentjens
36 Michel Van Den Elzen
37 Joachim Reniers
38 Richard Mallett
39 Jasper Van Eeden
40 Dirk Elzholz
41 Mario Kertels
42 Victor Stulemeijer
43 Kirsten Adam
44 Wilbert Der Kinderen
45 Rens Hooijmaijers
46 Norbert Broman
47 Anthony Rorive
48 Vincent Chardome

 

When Sunday rolled around, action in the DPO had moved from the separate building into the theatre for the play-off rounds.

The theatre hosted the DPO play-offs
The theatre hosted the DPO play-offs

The format for the play-offs began with eight rounds of ‘Swiss system’ play. All the matches were single 4-ball games with players paired up, and only who won and who lost recorded. For the first round, the top qualifier played the 48th-placed qualifier, the 2nd-placed played the 47th-placed, and so on. For rounds 2-8 players were paired up so that they faced someone with the same or similar number of match wins. That meant the matches potentially got harder if you kept winning, and easier if you kept losing.

Trophies and cash prizes awaited the winners
Trophies and cash prizes awaited the winners

There was some controversy at the start of the play-offs when a road accident prevented several players getting to the venue in time for the 9:30am cut-off. Some arrived late to find they had lost their place, with reserve players who were present on-stage given their place instead.

With 48 players in head-to-head matches, 24 machines were needed. They were:

DPO Play-Offs Machine List
Congo
Doctor Who
Dracula, Bram Stoker’s
Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Goldeneye
High Speed
Iron Man VE
Jackbot
Johnny Mnemonic
Jurassic Park
Medieval Madness
Monopoly
Monster Bash
Party Zone, The
Scared Stiff
Shadow, The
Sopranos, The
Spider-Man
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Tales from the Crypt
Tommy, The Who’s
Tron
Whirlwind

 

Although you may think it wouldn’t take too long to play eight two-player games, in reality each round had to wait for all the results from the preceding round to be completed before the pairings could be worked out. As a result, one long game slowed everything down and it took until around 2:40pm for all eight rounds to complete.

The DPO play-offs
The DPO play-offs
The DPO play-offs
The DPO play-offs
Tournament Director, Ad Jonker, enters the latest results
Tournament Director, Ad Jonker, enters the latest results
Matches and results were shown on the screen using the MatchPlay system
Matches and results were shown on the screen using the MatchPlay system
The last few matches of the eighth and final round
The last few matches of the eighth and final round

Once all eight rounds had been completed, the four players with the most wins went through to the final. While Cayle George was the clear leader with seven wins out of eight there was, not unsurprisingly, a tie for the remaining places in the final with seven players on six wins. That meant a seven-way shoot-out on a machine chosen at random – Monopoly.

Seven players have a shoot-out to decide three places in the final
Seven players have a shoot-out to decide three places in the final
Taco Wouters starts the shoot-out
Taco Wouters starts the shoot-out

The result saw Taco Wouters, Roy Wils and Michel Rorive go through to the final to join Cayle.

DPO Shoot-Out Results
Taco Wouters
Michel Rorive
John van der Wulp
Dirk Klaver
Jochen Ludwig
Roy Wils
Dirk Elzholz
15,887,400
9,034,490
5,557,030
7,086,450
4,764,010
10,749,560
3,710,750

 

And so we reached the culmination of the competitive weekend, the DPO final. The top three (Cayle, Roy and Taco) each chose a machine to play. The choices were Getaway, Jurassic Park and Scared Stiff.

The final four: Taco, Cayle, Michel and Roy
The final four: Taco, Cayle, Michel and Roy

The winner of each game would earn 4 points, second place would get 2 points, third would receive 1 point, with no points for fourth.

The machines for the final
The machines for the final
The playfield camera is set up for the first game
The playfield camera is set up to show the first game on the screen
Ad sets Getaway to 3-ball play and adjusts the volume
Ad sets Getaway to 3-ball play and adjusts the volume

With all the equipment adjusted it was time to begin the final, starting with game one; Jurassic Park.

Michel starts the final
Michel starts the final

Going into each player’s third and final ball the scores were very close, with Michel on 38M, Roy on 44M, Cayle on 62M and Taco on 30M. However Roy in the player two position had a good multiball and broke away from the pack with his 243M total.

Roy playing multiball
Roy playing multiball

It proved to be enough to win the game, with Taco moving into second place with 97M, Cayle was third on 78M and Michel fourth on 41M. Then it was on to game two; Scared Stiff.

The over-the-shoulder camera showed the playfield and display on the screen
The over-the-shoulder camera showed the playfield and display on the screen

Once again Michel began, but he, like all the finalists, didn’t get off to a good start. In fact the highest score from all four on their first ball was Taco’s 1M.

Taco begins his first ball of game two
Taco begins his first ball of game two

There was a brief discussion on ball two of Cayle’s game when the lock unexpectedly kicked out a ball which immediately drained, but it was ruled to be just a part of gameplay and the final continued.

A break in the final to check the rules
A break in the final to check the rules

Despite that mishap, Cayle had a good multiball with Double Trouble running followed by Monster Multiball, and won the game with his 32M total. Roy was second with 12M from his multiball modes. Taco was third with 5M and Michel was unable to make his mark and ended on 3M.

With the last game to play, the scores were:

DPO Final Scores After 2 Games
Roy Wils 4 + 2 = 6
Cayle George 1 + 4 = 5
Taco Wouters 2 + 1 = 3
Michel Rorive 0 + 0 = 0

 

Greg and Roger were watching the final
Greg and Roger were in the audience watching the final

So Roy, Cayle and Taco could still win if the other players’ positions worked out right.

Cayle began on Getaway.

Cayle starts the last game of the final
Cayle starts the last game of the final

Things didn’t go so well though, as Cayle ended ball one on 6M. Michel was second to play.

Michel is player two
Michel is player two

His first ball was only slightly better, racking up 10M points.

Then came Roy.

Roy in the player three position
Roy in the player three position

He made a more respectable 71M on ball one, leaving Taco to see what he could do.

Taco is player four
Taco is player four

His 19M ball one score put him into second place, but it was still wide open for someone to storm ahead.

Cayle got into his game a little more on his second ball to end on 44M, as did Michel who crept ahead of Roy with his 80M. But it was Roy who really got things going with his second ball total of 270M. Taco responded and came remarkably close to Roy, ending his second ball with 261M.

Cayle needed a great last ball to be in contention for the win, but it didn’t happen for him and his 53M condemned him to fourth place in the game. Michel had a similar fate, only adding 4M to his 80M score.

At this point Roy had mathematically won, with a guaranteed 8 points and a possible 10 if he won. Taco only had 3 points, but if he won he would ease past Cayle’s 6 points to take second overall.

Roy only added 11M to his score on his final ball, ending on 281M. Could Taco add another 20M to take second?

One 26M video mode later and it was all over
One 26M video mode later and it was all over

So Taco won game three, Roy was second, Michel got his first point in third, and Cayle ended up in fourth. That made the overall scores and position as follows:

DPO Final Scores
1   Roy Wils 4 + 2 + 2 = 8
2   Taco Wouters 2 + 1 + 4 = 7
3   Cayle George 1 + 4 + 0 = 5
4   Michel Rorive 0 + 0 + 1 = 1

 

Soon after, the presentations were made by Roger and Greg.

Winner of the DPO 2015, Roy Wils
Winner of the DPO 2015, Roy Wils
Second place, Taco Wouters
Second place, Taco Wouters
Third place, Cayle George
Third place, Cayle George
The top three in the DPO 2015
The top three in the DPO 2015
DPO Final Results
Pos Name
1 Roy Wils
2 Taco Wouters
3 Cayle George
4 Michel Rorive
5 Dirk Klaver
6 Jochen Ludwig
7 John van der Wulp
8 Dirk Elzholz
9 Martijn van Aken
10 Bart Bartholomeus
11 Kevin Roelants
12 Martin Ayub
13 Axel Bouet
14 John Gimera
15 Eric Andries
16 Ivan Geentjens
17 Kirsten Adam
18 Vincent Chardome
19 Paul Jongma
20 Albert Nomden
21 Erwin Deutschländer
22 Sylvain Grévin
23 Peter Blakemore
24 Alain Boulieu
25 Olivier Renders
26 Jake Peterson
27 Victor Stulemeijer
28 Norbert Broman
29 Anthony Rorive
30 Bas Vis
31 Ivan Miles
32 Brenn Oosterbaan
33 Jonas Johansson
34 Eric Fisher
35 Eko Elens
36 Jim Lindsay
37 Nils de Kleine
38 Neil Fellender
39 Timber Engelbeen
40 Richard Mallett
41 Lieven Engelbeen
42 Bart Volman
43 Joachim Reniers
44 Jasper van Eeden
45 Wilbert der Kinderen
46 Rens Hooijmaijers
47 Bjorn Brand
48 Jasmijn de Jong
49 Benjamin Gräbeldinger
50 Franck Bona
51 Michel van de Elzen
52 Mario Kertels
53 Pieter van Leijen
54 Ralph Beckers
54 Erik de Jong
56 Jaap Valent
57 Greg Mott
58 Stefan Toonders
59 Ronald Oenema
60 Rob Overdijk
61 Joost Leerentveld
62 Koen Heltzel
63 Arco van Geest
64 Albert Medaillon
65 Bas van Doorn
66 Laurence Boulieu
67 Dave van den Akker
67 Matt Vince
69 Gerard Poelwijk
70 Patrice Luwel
71 Didier Dujardin
73 Barry Hoeben
73 Phillipe Bocquet
73 Helen de Haan-Verbeek
75 Remco Broman
76 Alex Reihle
77 Tobias Wagemann
77 Sörn Weiss
79 Stephane Swaenepoel
79 Stefan Herold
82 Steven van der Staaij
82 Tommy Machado
82 John van Haaften
84 Ynze van den Broek
85 Glenn Verhoosele
86 Jos Deboosere
87 Tom Loomans
88 Edwin Nijs
90 Heinz Baumann
90 Justin Walker
90 Peter Muis
92 Andy Ball
93 Jim Jansen
94 David Mainwaring
95 Arjan Neet
96 Theo Maas
96 Ronald Klappe
98 Jacob Torsten
99 Marcel Diks
100 Jan Poland
101 Jules Reivers
102 Robin Struyf
103 Peter Roos
104 Robert van Dam
105 Dennis Slagboom
105 Claudia Chelius
107 Stefan Judmann
108 Roger Sharpe
109 Patrick Struwer
110 Lutz Hammer
111 Tom Vis
112 Rob Fransen
113 Peter Brand
114 Vincent Hendrikx
115 Dina Fukson
115 Mark van der Gugten
117 Wijnco van Helden
118 Jörg Multhaupt
119 Florian Thomas
120 Peter van Vliet
121 Ben Zaad
121 Ron Meiresonne
123 Hans Bijsterveld
123 Stefan Poland
125 Jerome Costenoble
126 Antonio van der Heijden
127 Mark Heneda
128 Barry Driessen
129 Niels van Uden
130 Anne Sonnemans
131 Tom Erland Ullerlien
132 Enrico Douwens
132 Frederick Perignon
134 Owen Richards
135 Tim Kreukels
135 Daniela Oymann
137 Marco van Swelm
138 Merlijn Vink
139 Tom-Erik Johansen
139 Steven Demets
141 Jean Paul de Win
142 Adam Bona
143 Patrick Monseu
143 Mario Vandermeulen
145 Gerard Vos
146 Billy van de Ven
147 Victor Machart
148 Hendrik Morskate
149 Robert Schilder
151 Roddy Branderhorst
151 Rainer Gliem
151 Erol Saydam
153 Jesse van Iersel
154 Jeroen Dekker
155 Rolf Bakermans
156 Tom Thobe
157 Babs Negelen
158 Kevin Sultana
159 Joris van Neijenhof
160 Pelle Gerritsen
161 Robin Koning

 

But the DPO was certainly not the only tournament taking place at the DPO Expo.

The Classic Tournament was held in the main hall on six machines featuring artwork by Greg Freres. They were:

Classic Tournament Machine List
Dr. Dude
Elvira & The Party Monsters
Fathom
Harlem Globetrotters
Vector
Whoa Nellie!  Big Juicy Melons

 

Play in the Classic Tournament
Play in the Classic Tournament

Players could buy unlimited entries at €3 a time, with each entry giving one game on three of the six machines. Scores were then ranked and the combined ranking points across all three game the player their overall score and position. Only a player’s highest scoring entry counted.

The Classic Tournament ran from the opening of the event on Saturday morning until around 4pm on Sunday. There was no play-off, so whoever had the highest position when the event ended was the winner.

With scores of 737,620 on Harlem Globetrotters, 1,748,210 on Fathom and 2,424,050 on Vector in a single entry, the winner was Franck Bona. In second place was DPO finalist Cayle George, while in third was fellow finalist Roy Wils.

They received their awards from Roger and Greg.

Winner of the DPO Classic Tournament, Franck Bona
Winner of the DPO Expo Classic Tournament, Franck Bona
Second place, Cayle George
Second place, Cayle George
Third place, Roy Wils
Third place, Roy Wils
The top three in the Classic Tournament
The top three in the Classic Tournament

The results we have are a little confused, with many names repeated and a number of different spellings of the same person’s name. So we’ve done our best to produce a cleaner list until the official results have been declared.

DPO Classic Tournament Results
1 Franck Bona 
2 Cayle George
3 Roy Wils
4 Philippe Bocquet
5 Mark Van Der Gugten
6 Jonas Johansson
6 Taco Wouters
8 Dirk Elzholz
9 Udo Schuieta
10 Paul Jongma
11 Peter Blakemore
12 Rob Overdijk
13 John Van Der Wulp
14 Richard Mallet
15 Bas Van Doorn
16 Heinz Baumam
17 Stefan Herold
18 Lutz Hammer
19 Ivan Miles
20 Greg Mott
21 Kirsten Adam
22 Martin Ayub
23 Jim Lindsay
24 David Mainwaring
25 Olivier France
26 Matt Vince
27 Alain Boulieu
28 Marcel Van Den Boogert
29 Victor Stulemijer
30 Rich Mallet
31 Jake Peterson
32 Albert Medaillion
33 J.P. De Win
33 Benjamin Grobeldinger
35 Helen De Haan
35 Erwin Deutschlander
37 Rainer Gliem
38 William Der Kinderen
39 Peter Bracke
40 Stefan Judmann
41 Marten Bangma
42 Bas Vis
43 Jörg Multhaupt
44 Olivier Renders
45 Andrew Moskos
46 Peter Roos
47 Kevin Soltana
48 Jan Izaks
48 Mario Kertels
50 Gerard Vos
50 Heinz Bauman
52 Mark Heneka
53 Jochen Ludwig
53 Peter Schotvanger
55 Wilbert Der Kinderen
56 Martijn Van Maurik
57 Nano Tellerger
58 Laurence Boulieu
58 Dave Vd Akker
60 Arco V Geest
60 Erol Saydam
62 Eric Hetem
63 Marcel Diks
64 Peter Bracke
64 Marcel Visser
66 Ronald Klappe
66 Jeroen Wieringa
68 Wilko Wieffering
68 Helen De Haan-Verbeek
70 Marcel Van De Boogert
71 Herman Rohse
71 Gregg Treres
73 Patrice Luwel
73 Roger Sharpe
75 Robin Van Maurik
75 Glenn Verkoosele
77 Justin Walker
78 Jefrey Reinhardt
78 Jeroen Dekker
78 Mirko Carton
81 Norbert Broman
82 Neil Fellender
83 Ricard Vd Zijl De Jong
84 Pieter Van Dam
85 Boris Tellgegen
86 Didier Diyardi
87 Kevin Sultana
88 Marlijn
89 Florian Thomas
90 Thomas Mici
91 Remco Broman
92 Thomas Florian
93 Mahmut Seridag
94 Ronald Barrow
94 Daniella Oymann
96 Marijke Kool
97 Maurice Van Erser
98 Eric Fisher
99 Andy Ball
99 Mathieu Eulink
101 Gerard Poeldijk
102 Jasmijn De Jong
103 Dennis Aarts
104 Denise Clemens
105 Tom-Erik Johansen
106 R. Essed
107 Herman Kalse
107 Gert Aaarts
107 Thomas Van Clapdorp
110 Alex Wacker
111 Stephane Swaenepoee
112 Simon Picoo
113 Michel Roride
114 Lawrence Boulieu
115 Robin Koning
116 Paola
117 Kim Van Geest
117 Ynze Van Den Broek
117 Tommy Machado
117 Nils De Kleine
117 Ruud Wacker
117 Roberrt Van Dam
117 Erik Smit
117 Jan-Willem Veldhuis
117 Owen Richards
117 Mario Groenewold
117 Mark Heine
117 Jaap Valent
117 Steven Demets
117 Tom Erland Villeruien
117 Quint Van Kessel
117 Daniela Oymann
117 Edwin Rooijens
117 Adriaan Van Roeden
117 Sander Feys
117 Wouter Olde- Keizer

 

To thank them for being the special guests at the DPO Expo, Roger and Greg were given special presents by the organisers.

Roger and Greg with their clogs
Roger and Greg with their clogs

There were also three divisions of tournaments for younger players. These tournaments were free to enter.

By the time the presentations were made many of the award winner had already left, but here are the results with pictures of those who remained to collect their trophies.

DPO Kids Tournament Results
Pos Name
1 Paul Elwert
2 Tye van den Elzen
3 Simon Piloo
Second place, Tye ven den Elzen
Second place, Tye ven den Elzen
DPO Junior Tournament Results
Pos Name
1 Joren Engelbeen
2 Annika van de Broek
3 Lotte van Wonterghem

 

Winner, Joren Engelbeen
Winner, Joren Engelbeen
Lotte van Wonterghem
Third place, Lotte van Wonterghem
DPO Youth Tournament Results
Pos Name
1 Thomas van Clapdorp
2 Korben van Wonterghem
3 Lefman Kan

 

Winner, Thomas van Clapdorp
Winner, Thomas van Clapdorp
Second place, Korben Van Wonterghem
Second place, Korben Van Wonterghem
Third place, Lefman Kan
Third place, Lefman Kan

A Women’s Tournament was held in the DPO qualifying room on Sunday afternoon while the DPO play-offs were taking place in the theatre. Entry to this cost €7.50 with prizes awarded to the top three. Sixteen players took part in this tournament.

The Women's Tournament
The Women’s Tournament

The winner was Helen de Haan-Verbeek, with Jasmijn de Jong in second place and Nanny Speetjens in third.

Winner of the Women's Division, Helen de Haan-Verbeek
Winner of the Women’s Tournament, Helen de Haan-Verbeek
Second place, Jasmijn de Jong
Second place, Jasmijn de Jong
Third place, Nanny Speetjens
Third place, Nanny Speetjens
DPO Women’s Tournament Results
1 Helen de Haan-Verbeek
2 Jasmijn de Jong
3 Nanny Speetjens
4 Annemarie Piloo
5 Dina Fukson
6 Sonja van den Heuvel
7 Laurence Boulieu
8 Kyoo Barbaix
9 Isabel van Schil
9 Sandra van Hees
11 Claudine Jansen
12 June Kim
13 Arline Speetjens
14 Babs Negelen
15 Rani Agustiani
15 Linda Schellen

 

The final competitive event was the Team Tournament which was held on Saturday night from 6pm onwards.

Twelve teams registered, paid their €25 entry fee, and were were split into three groups of four. The teams were:

Group A
Dutch Pinball Team
Filthy Harold
Team Dutch Pinball
Saarland

 

Group B
Pinball DNA
Pinball Squad
SA De Knikker
Shoot Again

 

Group C
The Pingods
Team Belgium
Team Visioen
Spark

 

Each team played a match against the other three teams in their group, where a match consists of four games of split-flipper play and one head-to-head game where each player plays on ball of a 4-ball game for their team. Points were awarded for winning the split-flipper and the 4-ball game.

When all the matches were played, the two teams with the most points in each group continued to the semi-finals to play against one other team from a different group. The three winners of those semi-finals moved on to the final which was played with the same format.

The eventual winners were Team Belgium, with Saarland in second and Pinball Squad in third.

Winners of the Team Tournament, Team Belgium
Winners of the Team Tournament, Team Belgium
Second place, Saarland
Second place, Saarland
Thrid place, Pinball Squad
Third place, Pinball Squad

The final presentations went to the key organisers and helpers at the DPO Expo. They received bouquets of flowers, while Andrew Heighway presented a signed Full Throttle backglass to NFV secretary, Rens Hooijmaijers.

Flowers to the organisers
Flowers to the organisers

Andrew presents the signed backglass to Rens
Andrew presents the signed backglass to Rens

All of which brings us to the end of this DPO Expo 2015 report.

The DPO Expo continues to be one of Europe’s main pinball events, and the emergence of pinball manufacturers in the Netherlands only continues to strengthen that position.

As with several of the larger shows held in 2015, there was a certain sense that the DPO Expo was very similar to last year. To a great extent this is because many of those companies who announced new games or showed them in prototype form in 2014 are yet to put their games into production and can only show a very similar prototype and talk about their plans for 2016.

The main hall
The main hall

Apart from the different special guests this year, the main area of change was in the tournament from which the DPO Expo derives its name.

It’s difficult to get a system which appeals to everyone, but for us the qualifying round took up just enough of our day to allow us to attend all the seminars and play lots of machines – old and brand new – in the free-play area. For the pure tournament players though who have no interest in seminars, buying parts from vendors, or trying out the latest titles, only playing six machines (plus a joker) might be seen as a deterrent to attending.

The play-offs changed from the familiar double-elimination format to use the Swiss system instead. This was a double-edged sword. The big advantage was that everyone got to play a full eight rounds of play-offs, with the downside being those who lost a number of games early on then had no possibility of making it to the final four and were purely playing for the lower positions.

The DPO play-offs on Sunday
The DPO play-offs on Sunday

On the whole though we liked the tournament format it as it included a decent number of games to play but didn’t consume our entire weekend.

Competition to attract pinball fans to your event is getting tougher, not because of the lack of enthusiasts and players, but because more events are appearing in the diary and larger numbers of people are travelling to longer distances to attend them.

The DPO Expo continues to draw the crowds, with the organisers telling Pinball News that they had even more visitors this year than last. We’re certainly looking forward to returning in 2016 for another attempt to win one of those trophies.

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